Chapter Text
Tuesday, April 13th, 2275.
180 miles from Hub City.
Vault 5 finally had their fill of the young scientist. Exiled? Exiled! Why not just kill her? Many, many thoughts rushed through Dina’s head as she was pushed out of the Vault and into whatever underground facility it was housed in. “This experiment went too far, Dina,” they said. “You could have jeopardized the whole vault, Dina,” they said. She was doing them a favor. And for that, the punishment was exile.
Dina Byers was, emphasis on was, a vault dweller. She had spent her whole life up until now inside of Vault 5, and as far as vaults went, Dina assumed it was pretty standard, though she of course could never be sure. It was cramped, the lights flickered sometimes, and the air was always still, but that was all she had ever known. Where she was now? Well, it was much the same actually.
The Vault door had opened up to another interior space but it was probably the largest room Dina had ever stood in. The massive door behind her slowly shut, letting out a hiss of air as metal rubbed against metal. Dina was completely in the dark, more alone than she ever could have been before. Luckily she still had her Pip-Boy. The wrist computer had plenty of useful gadgets, one of which was a flashlight - Dina remembered needing to use it when the power went out once when she was very little.
Illuminated by the small bulb on the end of the Pip-Boy, the room’s size and vastness only became more evident. Dina saw catwalks around the vault door along with-
“Ahh!” the young woman squeaked out. Before her on the floor was… a skeleton. A whole human skeleton. It was on its back, non-existent eyes staring up to the ceiling. Dina’s breathing grew uneasy, and it only continued to grow as more bones came into view. One, two, three… oh god. There were at least ten intact human skeletons in various positions outside the vault door. “Oh my god…” the young woman said after a gulp. Dina tiptoed around the bones, careful not to step on any of them. Those skeletons had presumably sat there for two centuries undisturbed and Dina didn’t want to be the one to disturb them. Her very first obstacle overcome, Dina continued forward into the dark.
The Vault room had just a single wide hallway as its entrance. Dina moved along it, keeping the beam of light emanating from her wrist forward. She quickly realized it was on an incline. She was ascending.
The concrete floor gave way to linoleum, and the metal walls gave way to wooden ones. Then the hallway just stopped, abruptly ending in a wall. It was so abrupt Dina bumped right into it. “Fuck,” she muttered. This was it? They boarded the vault up after closing it? She had to die of thirst in a single room surrounded by dust and skeletons? This can’t be how it ends! She thought.
Greatly irritated, Dina threw a fist against the wall. That, apparently, was the right decision. The wall moved, turning slightly on a swivel. Dina pushed on one side of it, causing the wall to turn even more. Light appeared from the other side. Secret door! Too much light actually. Fuck, that’s bright, she thought. Dina reached above her head and pulled down her Vault-Tec issued Vault Dweller Surfacing Goggles™ (as seen in the cult classic Vault-Tec approved safety presentation Leaving The Vault ©2076) and only then could she see what was on the other side. Awaiting her was an incredibly confused looking man wearing some variation of a police officer’s uniform. A tag on his shirt read Glass, which Dina assumed was a name.
Dina was a deer in headlights. “Um…”
The presumed cop, Mr. Glass, just had a look of bewilderment upon his face. Dina could see even past the man’s thick beard and wrinkles; this was a new one for him. He tried to say something, “There, uh… You’re in my office, ma’am.”
Dina looked the man up and down, then looked around the room. She had found herself in an office, one with a single desk. The desk had a telephone sitting on it, and beside it was the flag of the state of California on a pole. “I- Yeah?” she said. Of all things she was planning to see outside of the vault - horrible mutants, zombies, communists - she wasn’t at all expecting to see some cop’s office. She could make this work. After quickly clearing her thoughts Dina cleared her throat and said, “"Ah yes, hello there. I am an emissary of Vault 5; which seems to be… Behind your office."
Glass had a look of understandable skepticism about his face. “A Vault, eh?” He peered behind her into the long black hallway from whence she came. “There’s an entire Vault, just back that way?” he asked. This small woman was wearing a blue suit, so maybe she was being honest.
He was buying it. Dina continued, "Why yes, of course! We just needed someone to go out and have a sort of… Inspection of the outside world. Confirm our readings that everything’s safe topside."
“Uh-huh…” he said. Glass pulled the radio receiver from where it was clipped on his shirt pocket and spoke into it, “Got a situation at the office, need three of you back here.” Glass looked back at Dina, “Well, I’m gonna have some folk go and verify the place so we can get the proper folks working on it. Boys up in Shady got protocols and such for this.”
Dina froze up. This wasn’t good, not good at all. She just inadvertently revealed the location of her Vault to a bunch of complete strangers. No telling what could happen to it now. She tried to do something, anything. “Oh that's really no problem, sir! I'll be the only one coming out for quite some time, but I'll be sure to let them all know of the situation!” Please work, she thought.
He shook his head. “Afraid that’s not really up to me, ma’am. Vaults found on NCR land get processed through the proper channels.” Glass moved from the doorway to his desk where a black landline telephone was waiting for him. “As for you, we’ll get you squared away a-s-a-p.”
Dina wanted to just run, but doubted she would get very far. Especially with that large gun on Glass’s hip. The young woman deflated. She may as well see how established the surface dwellers were. “Um, alright. And the NCR is?” she asked.
He paused his dialing of the phone. Of course she didn’t know anything. He set the phone back down and went for the flag by the desk. He pulled it up to show Dina the full design. That bear had two heads. “The New California Republic,” Glass said, “Your Vault just so happens to be in the great state of Dayglow.” He released the flag and leaned against his desk.
“Ah, interesting. Why two heads?” Dina asked.
Glass raised an eyebrow, “Pardon?”
“The bear. Why’s it got two heads?” she asked again.
“I uh… I dunno.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s always had two heads? Been that way since even before I was born.”
Dina had started to take notes on her Pip-Boy. This specific model had a pop out keyboard for ease of data entry. “Well, two-headed bears are news to me,” she said. “So, I was expecting any humans left to be horribly mutated monsters. Are people like you common, or did I just get lucky?”
“Woo-boy, wasn’t expecting this so soon,” he said with a chuckle. Vaultie was already living up to the stereotype. “Whatever bunk they told you down there, about how it is up here, throw it out. Nearly all the folk around here are just fine. And the mutants, well, they’re fine too.” Just then the front door of the office opened up. Three more officers entered, two more men and one zombie(?). “Speaking of…” the first officer muttered.
The zombie guy, he just looked like a walking corpse. Skin was loosely hanging to his emaciated form. His lips were gone, as were his ears and nose. The clothes on his body were better held together than he was. He opened his mouth to speak, and his voice sounded similar to how sandpaper felt, “What’s with the bluey?”
Dina couldn’t help but stare, though unlike most of her kin it wasn’t a look of terror on her face. Instead, she was merely curious about the mutant. She was expecting horrible monsters, and here one was, just not here to kill her.
The first cop turned his gaze fully to the trio of officers. “Seems there’s a whole Vault just down that way. You three go verify that before I make the call to Shady.” The three cops gave variations of ‘yes sir’ before moving past Dina into the hall. The first one looked back at her, “As for you. You get to partake in the old Californian pastime of paperwork. Need to get your citizenship papers handled at the mayor’s office. All your friends down below’ll be doing the same soon.”
This was getting more official than Dina had prepared for. “Well I’m not so sure they’ll be coming out just yet…”
“Uh, about that.” Glass looked away from her for a second then returned his gaze but he didn’t look her in the eyes. “Thing is,” he paused, “that isn’t really up to you. Vault’s on NCR land.”
She was stunned. “You’re gonna force them all out?” The Vault was going to be forced open and it would be her fault. But then again, did she actually care? They threw her out. Still, they may hold a grudge. Dina had to get as far away from this place as she could.
“Listen, I know that sounds bad, but you all are getting a pretty good deal out of it. You all get to be citizens, and as far as places you coulda came out you all got the best deal here. NCR was started by vault dwellers. It all started at 15. Hell, 8 and 13 have already joined the republic.” Glass could easily see the anxiety building on Dina’s face, though he attributed it to the news of the door being opened. “Here, how ‘bout I walk you over to the mayor’s office and we get your paperwork processed today. You won’t have to be stuck here and deal with all the feds badgering you for questions.”
Dina would finally get to go outside for the very first time too. Getting away from here and from potential retaliation by her Vault sounded like a pretty good deal. “Oh, uh, sure. That sounds nice. Let’s do that.”
Glass walked to his office door and held it for Dina. As she walked out she got her first real breath of fresh air. It was hot, and dusty, and had a lingering scent of meat to it for some reason, but it was fresh. Vault 5 had apparently been built beneath a shopping mall. Dina, of course, already knew this from long nights of boredom pouring over technical data on random terminals. Three long and wide hallways met in a central circular plaza, all of them having what used to be storefronts built into their walls. The plaza had a massive skylight which at one point had glass in it that allowed the midday sun to shine down into the shanty looking marketplace beneath it.
“Welcome to Marina Center,” Glass said, “Certainly one of the towns in the great state of Dayglow.”
Seeing it all in this state, storefronts turned into homes, the plaza turned into an open air market, one word came to Dina’s mind, “Impressive.” Who would have thought to turn a shopping mall into a town? Certainly not the original owners.
“I figure it’s not as fancy as where you came from, but it’s home.” Glass adjusted his pants, pulling them up some. “Come on then, office is this way.”
As much as Dina would have liked to just quietly slip away into a crowd, she stood out too much in her blue suit. Unfortunately she had to play along with this bureaucracy stuff this cop had warned of. She followed the cop and took in the sights. Walking along she passed a cart being pulled by an odd animal. It looked like a cow (she knew of these creatures from picture books), but it had incredibly thin brown fur and two entire heads. It was being used to pull a cart made from the back of a pick-up truck which was filled with three large metal drums. Two-headed bears, and now two-headed cows. What else up here would have polycephaly? Was Dina to see a dog one head shy of a cerberus?
Distracted by her staring, Dina bumped into Glass. After she fixed her glasses back on her face she found the reason. They had reached an old storefront that looked to have at one point sold clothes. The windows of it had been covered up with planks of wood, blocking further exterior investigation. Glass held this door for Dina as well.
Inside was very different from the rest of the mall. It looked to have been completely remodeled somewhat recently and now resembled a respectable office rather than some dingy old store. There was a counter in front with a woman typing away at a terminal to which Glass gave a wave. “Howdy, Deb. Gotta see the big man. This one here needs some citizenship papers.”
The woman, Deb, looked away from the glowing emerald screen and an expression of intrigue grew upon her face. “Oh my, a vault dweller?” She shook her head and looked at Glass. “Oh, he’s just in his office. Go right in.”
The cop tipped his hat to the woman and headed through the door behind her.
Deb turned her attention to Dina. “Better have a seat, there’s a lot of forms.”
“Great…” Dina muttered.
…
Dina’s wrist was incredibly sore. So many papers. So many ‘sign here,’ ‘initial here,’ ‘date of birth here.’ What good was the apocalypse if all the bureaucrats survived? Still, Dina endured every document. She placed the stack of papers on Deb’s desk. “So can I leave now?”
The secretary took the documents and neatly placed them all inside of a manilla envelope. “Just take these over to the Mojave Express box and your citizenship papers should arrive in a week or two.”
A week? Or two? The Vault could get pried open by then! “So, what am I just stuck here until I get some piece of paper?”
Deb moved back just a little. “Well, technically, no. But you don’t have a residence your citizenship papers can be sent to so you would have to come back here anyway.”
Just then that cop Mr. Glass came back from the back office. “Got it all sorted then, miss vault dweller?”
Dina put her eyes on him. “I thought you said if I did this I could leave. She’s telling me I have to stay for another week.”
“Well,” Glass said, “You don’t really have a res-”
“Okay, well…” Dina threw her arms up in frustration. Had to be some way out of this. Maybe she could give them a frequency to broadcast that she could get on her Pip-Boy? Or maybe… couldn’t she just get the papers in person? “Wait, where do the papers even come from? Couldn’t I just go there and get them myself?”
That thought apparently hadn’t occurred to either the cop nor the secretary. Glass spoke, “I suppose you could, but that’s at least a week’s trip through the desert. Possible, but…”
“Is that something I’m allowed to do?” Dina interrupted.
“Technically, yes, but-” Glass tried to say.
“Alright, I’m doing that!” Dina said. She snatched the envelope with her documents and tucked them into the Vault-Tec backpack she had been issued in her Vault-Tech Approved Execution By Exile Survival Kit™ then began to fiddle with her Pip-Boy. “So where is this capital anyway?”
Glass came closer to Dina, glaring at the small woman. “Listen, it’s not a good idea going up that way all by yourself.”
“Well, I’m gonna, so what’s the way to go?” She was attempting to pinpoint her location on the Pip-Boy map.
The cop shook his head. Deb, having been subjected to this conversation, chimed in, “You know that caravan outfit that came into town recently might still be here. She could travel north with them.”
“Caravan outfit?” Dina perked up at the sound of that.
Glass raised a brow. “Well… actually, yeah. Alright, tell you what, vaultie. You head into the market and try and find that group and if you don’t I’ll let you walk outta here and head to Shady on your own.”
That sounded good to her. Dina nodded. “Okay, that works for me.”
…
The marketplace in the central plaza was a hive of activity. People of all sorts were milling about trying to buy and sell things at all manor of scrap wood vender stalls. Dina ignored all of these shabby shops; she was only here to find her way out. Stand selling scrap parts, stand selling energy cells (may be useful), and one stand just selling playing cards which seemed to be very popular for some reason. Dina got the occasional look at her but not as much attention as she assumed she’d get. Were vault dwellers common up here?
Dina did a single loop around the plaza market and came up empty until she saw… it. Across the way parked in front of a green military tent was a suit of T-51b power armor. Near pristine, like it had stepped right off of an old recruitment poster. She ran up to the suit, in complete awe of it. The suit had some scratch marks and bullet dents, but a recently applied paint on top of it all. The suit had been given a coating of desert camp; primarily it was tan with splotches of browns and greys. The armor was standing in front of a wooden cart with a painting of a rabbit on the side, and the cart was filled with wooden crates.
As Dina stared at the suit she didn’t notice its owner rapidly approaching. “Hey, hands off of that, vaultie!” cried a short, lean man in a dark green skin-tight suit with a denim vest worn overtop.
Dina jumped then slinked away from the armor, “I wasn’t touching! Honest!”
Behind the shorter man was a taller woman wearing a cowboy hat and a red flannel shirt. “Cool it, Isaac. You just gawkin’ or did you need something, vaultie?”
Dina cleared her throat. “Well, um, are you guys the caravan company? I was told there was one in town.”
The woman flicked the brim of her hat up. “That we are. Jackrabbit Caravans - get your goods up and down the coast before the brahmin come home.”
Wasted sales pitches aside, this was Dina’s best bet to get through the desert alive. “That’s great!” she said, “So I’ve got this envelope that needs to go to the capital so I can become a citizen. I was told you guys could help me get there.”
“Why not just drop it at Mojave Express? Seems a bit light for our purposes,” said the short guy - the woman said his name was Isaac(?). “And besides, we don't exactly need another body.” Isaac stepped past Dina and started to fiddle with the back of the armor.
Just then someone new came in from the plaza: a Catholic nun. She had a black and white uniform complete with a habit. Under the costume the woman had dark skin and violet eyes. “Who’s this?” she asked of the hatted woman.
“Some vaultie.” The woman looked back to Dina and said, “Look, we can’t really take on an escort job for free. Let’s say from here to Shady… three hundred dollars.”
How lucky. Dina reached into one of her pockets and retrieved three crumpled up US one hundred dollar bills. Trading those painkillers really worked out. “This should cover that then.”
All three of the other people stared at the dollars in Dina’s hand and a silence came upon them for a solid five seconds. The woman in the hat spoke, “That’s, uh, nice, but we’ve got plenty of tinder already. I need some real cash, no barter.”
Dina was taken aback. “Huh, I- You said dollars. What do you people use then?”
Isaac interjected, “The vaultie’s broke, Molls. Let’s just get ‘sita and get going.”
Then the nun chimed in, “Well, if she can’t pay why don’t you just hire her Molly? Have her actually work instead of just being an escort.”
“We don’t exactly need another hand on this run,” said the hatted woman who was apparently named Molly.
The nun shook her head, “Come on, don’t you want to help someone in need?”
Molly rolled her eyes, “I suppose…”
“You really wanna babysit a vault dweller all the way to Shady?” Isaac protested.
“We’re not going all the way to Shady. We’re gonna go to the office and the vaultie can figure a way to Shady from there,” Molly retorted.
That wasn’t entirely helpful, but progress was progress. “That works for me,” said Dina.
“Alright then, welcome aboard. As soon as my last employee gets back we’ll get a move on.” Molly leaned on the cart. “I’m Molly, I’m gonna be your boss. I say jump, you say ‘how high?’.”
“Understood? My name is Dina Byers.” These people seemed normal, even the nun. Dina had to wonder, the Catholic church survived the apocalypse?
Molly continued, “The grumpy guy’s Isaac, and the lady in black is Sister Lola. We’re just waiting on our interpreter Osita.”
The nun, Lola, smiled and gave Dina a small wave. Isaac did not, ignoring Dina for now.
“Speaking of,” said Molly.
Approaching from the plaza market was a tan skinned woman wearing very little. She had brown cloth wrapping over her chest and a ragged skirt of the same material over her waist. Green painted rings ran around her arms and legs. She was holding… a hot dog?
Molly smiled at the woman, “Hey, ‘sita. Told you ‘blue-suits’ are real.”
“My word, you were correct,” said Osita.
With everyone now here Molly headed to the front of the cart. Isaac turned the valve on the back of the T-51b suit to open it up before he stepped inside. The suit closed up and Isaac did a quick test of mobility by bending each joint. With him suited up, Molly attached the front of the cart to his waist. They were using a suit of power armor to pull a wagon?
“Alright people,” Molly said, “Nobody’s got any last minute tasks?”
There was no response from the other three women.
“Alright then, let’s move out.”
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